I'm glad you enjoyed the twist! :) Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 20

"What?" Luke said shocked, his heart dropping.

"They've been in a car accident and I don't know what to do. The nurse wouldn't say anything, just to come to the hospital quickly. That can't be good, right?" Olivia cried. "I don't know what to...I don't know what to do!"

"Ok, everybody out!" Luke shouted. "The diner is closed!" He was relieved when nobody complained and just left. "Come on, I'll drive." He told Olivia. "Jess!" He called upstairs. "Jess!"

"What?" Jess said appearing from upstairs.

"We need to go to the hospital." Luke told him.

"What, why?" He said.

Luke took a deep breath. "It's Lorelai and Rory. They've been in a car accident." He said softly.

"What?" Jess said his eyes widening. "Are they ok?"

"I don't know." Olivia sniffed.

"Come on, let's go." Luke said.

"It must be bad right? I mean, why did the nurse call me and not one of them? Surely that means they can't? Which means it's bad! Right?" Olivia said tremulously as she sat in the middle seat of the truck.

"Olivia..." Luke said.

"It's true though! If they were fine, they'd ring me! I know they would!" Olivia said. "I just..."

"They'll be fine." Luke tried to reassure her.

"What if they're not though? What if this was really bad? What if they're already dead?!" Olivia exclaimed, tears streaming down her face.

"Liv..." Jess said quietly.

Olivia glanced at Jess who gestured towards Luke. She looked over at him and saw the expression on his face. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I just...I can't stop thinking about the worst case scenario. I wish I just knew what had happened."

Luke took a deep breath and glanced at her. "It's ok." He assured her. He was quiet for a moment. "Look...if the...worst case scenario...does happen..." He said. "You'll always have me, ok? You won't be alone." He said softly.

Olivia looked at him and gave him a small tremulous smile. "Thanks." She said quietly.

"But it won't come to that. Your mom and Rory are tough. They'll be fine." Luke gave her a small smile.

"Right." She said quietly.

They arrived at the hospital and rushed in. "Please can you help me? I'm looking for my mom and sister! They were brought here. They were in a car accident." Olivia asked desperately.

"Names?" The receptionist asked.

"Lorelai and Rory Gilmore." Olivia said as she glanced at Luke worriedly.

The receptionist typed the names into her computer. "I'm afraid they're both in surgery at the moment but I'll let the doctor know you're here and I'll get him to let you know when there is any news." She said.

"Surgery? What do you mean they're in surgery?" Olivia said worried.

"That's all I know. I'm sorry." She smiled sympathetically at her.

"Come on, let's go sit and wait." Luke told her. "There's nothing we can do right now."

Olivia blinked back tears but nodded. As they turned the corner, she suddenly heard familiar voices.

"I demand you tell me where my daughter and granddaughter are right now or I won't be responsible for my actions!" Emily was saying. "You know we paid for half of this hospital right?"

"Grandma?" She said as she saw her grandparents arguing with another receptionist.

"Olivia! Do you know anything?" Richard asked.

"I know as much as you do." Olivia said. "Which is basically that they're in surgery but I don't know anything else."

"Who are you?" Emily asked looking at Luke and Jess.

"Luke Danes, Mrs Gilmore. I..uh..I own the diner in Stars Hollow. And this is my nephew, Jess." He said formally.

"Well we can take it from here. You can go now." Emily said stiffly.

"No way." Jess spoke for the first time.

"Jess..." Luke warned.

"What? Just because we know they won't approve of us, that means we're just going to go home and not find out how Lorelai and Rory are? No way! There's no way I'm leaving until I know my girlfriend's going to be ok!" Jess exclaimed.

"Girlfriend?" Emily said shocked.

"Yes, girlfriend!" Jess glared at her. "And for your information, Luke is dating your daughter as well. So I'm sorry you obviously don't like us but we're not going anywhere." He said. "We still need to talk about where Olivia's going to stay. This accident...it's obviously serious and Lorelai wouldn't want her staying at the house herself so where's she going to stay?"

"Well she will obviously stay with us." Emily said.

"Sure, or she can stay in her own town with all her friends during this hard time." Jess retorted.

"We are her family!" Emily exclaimed.

"Look, maybe we should just calm down a bit. We don't know how serious this was yet. Lorelai and Rory may be perfectly fine. This might just be precaution." Luke said.

"Surgery is precaution? Nice to know you're taking this seriously. You obviously don't have real feelings for our daughter then." Emily snapped.

"Emily..." Richard said.

"Real feelings?" Luke said astonished. "I've known your daughter for years! I've loved her for ten years! I would swap positions with her and Rory in a heartbeat if I could. So don't tell me how I feel." He said getting angry.

"Amen." Jess grumbled.

"I'm sick of this. This is a family matter and you two are not family so I'd like you to leave. Or should I call security?" Emily said.

"Shut up! Please will you all just SHUT UP!" Olivia suddenly shouted.

"Olivia!" Emily exclaimed shocked.

"You are all just stood here arguing with each other and wanting to get one up on everyone and you're forgetting that mom and Rory are in surgery right this minute! They could be dying and all you care about is your stupid pride!" She exclaimed. "Mom and Rory could be dying! They could be...They could...They..." She said suddenly panting heavily.

"Olivia?" Luke said concerned.

"I...I can't...I can't breathe..." She said, gasping.

"Olivia?" Richard said just as concerned as Emily watched on in shock.

"Ok, sit down." Luke said taking charge, gently leading her to a seat. "Just focus on your breathing ok?" Luke said softly.

"What a stupid thing to say!" Emily snapped.

Luke ignored her and focused on Olivia. "Liv, you're having a panic attack ok? Just focus on my voice. I need to you to focus on your breathing. Deep breaths ok? In and out like this..." He said softly, breathing along with her.

"I...can't..." Olivia said, still breathing heavily.

"You can." Luke said softly, taking hold of her hands that were trembling. "Just focus on my voice ok and follow my lead?" He said. "In and out...in and out..." He said.

Slowly, with Luke's help, she managed to slow her breathing down, Emily and Richard watching the interaction in surprise.

"There we go, that's it." Luke said.

"How...how did you know how to do that? What to do?" Olivia asked quietly.

Luke glanced at Jess before glancing back at her. "Uh..Liz...she used to have panic attacks." He admitted. "Dad never knew what to do so I..uh..I took care of it."

Olivia glanced at him. "Please don't leave." She said quietly. "I need you." She admitted. "Mom needs you..."

"I'm not going anywhere." Luke promised. "You're stuck with me, ok?"

Olivia gave him a tremulous smile and got up and hugged him tight. "They will be ok, won't they?" She said.

"I have no doubt." Luke assured her, holding her close.

"Are you family of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore?" A voice said hesitantly.

They all turned to see a doctor standing there. "Yeah. Are they ok?" Olivia asked, subconsciously grabbing hold of Luke's hand.

"I'm sorry if I was interrupting." The doctor said.

"You weren't. Are they ok?" Luke asked.

"We're Lorelai's parents. Are they going to be ok?" Emily asked.

"Your daughter was very lucky." The doctor said. "The surgery went well for her. She has a broken arm and cuts and bruises. She's resting now but we're positive she will make a full recovery." He told them.

"Really?" Olivia said letting out a breath.

"Really." The doctor smiled at her.

Olivia smiled tremulously at Luke who she could have sworn had tears in his eyes. "That's..."

"Great..." Luke said.

"What about Rory?" Jess asked.

Olivia saw the smile vanish from the doctor's face. "What is it?" She said, her heart suddenly dropping.

"There were...complications..." The doctor said. "Rory bore the brunt of the crash as the car drove into the passenger seat side." He explained. "I'm afraid Rory suffered a pretty serious head wound. We managed to stop the bleeding in surgery but we won't know the extent of her head injury until she wakes up." He said.

"She hasn't woken up yet?" Olivia said quietly.

"She will be ok, right?" Jess said.

"We can't be sure. Head injuries can be serious. They can cause memory loss or brain damage." He explained.

"You're...you're saying she could suffer from those?" Jess said quietly, glancing at Olivia who had gone pale.

"Like I said, we can't be sure. But you need to be prepared. Rory is very lucky to still be alive." He told them.

"No...this can't be happening..." Olivia said sinking down into a seat. "You must be mistaken..."

"I'm really sorry. All we can do is wait until she wakes up and then we will know more." The doctor said.

"But she could be ok right? I mean you say she could suffer memory loss or brain damage but there are two sides. She could be ok?" Luke said.

"Of course. But we can't know for certain until she wakes up." The doctor nodded.

"Well then we have to stay positive." Luke said glancing at Olivia and Jess. He glanced at Emily and Richard who looked in shock as well. "Right?" He said hesitantly.

"You're right." Richard spoke first. "We need to stay positive. Are we allowed to see them?" He asked.

"Of course, I'll show you the way." The doctor said.

Lorelai felt her eyes open slightly and she squinted as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings. She suddenly felt movement beside her and a familiar voice.

"Lorelai?"

"Luke?" She said hoarsely, trying to sit up.

"No, don't move ok? Take it slow." Luke said.

"Wha...What happened?" She asked, glancing over at him.

"You were in a car accident." Luke said softly. "But you're going to be ok. You're in hospital but they're positive you're going to make a full recovery."

Lorelai frowned and tried to think back to what had happened. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Rory!" She exclaimed, trying to get up.

"Whoa, no Lorelai, you can't! You need to rest!" Luke said stopping her.

"Rory was in the car! I need to see her! I need to make sure she's ok!" She exclaimed. "Have you seen her? Is she ok?"

Luke hesitated, not knowing how to break it to her. "Lorelai..."

"Oh god...No...please don't tell me...Please don't tell me she's dead..." Lorelai said shakily.

"No!" Luke said quickly. "No, she's not dead. I promise you. She's here. But..." He said taking a deep breath. "She suffered a serious head injury. They managed to stop the bleeding but...she...she hasn't woken up yet. So they don't know the extent of it yet."

"Oh god no..." Lorelai said tremulously. "I need to see her."

"Lorelai..."

"Please Luke! She's my daughter! I need to see you her!" She begged desperately.

"I know. I know you want to see her. But you won't be any use to her if you make yourself worse." Luke said softly.

"But...you said I was going to be fine..." She said quietly.

"You are. You will be. But you were still in a serious accident, Lorelai. You need to rest." He said. He sighed. "You need to be better so you can be there for Rory when she wakes up."

"When? You said when." Lorelai said quietly.

"She'll wake up, Lorelai. I know she will. And she's going to be fine." Luke said. "But right now, you need to rest. For yourself. And for Rory and Olivia."

"Olivia! Is she here? Is she ok?" Lorelai asked.

"It's been a rough day for her. But she's ok. She's with Jess in Rory's room. And your parents are here as well." He said.

"My parents? Oh god..."

"It may have come out we were dating." Luke said hesitantly.

"How?"

"Well...Jess got all angry because they were trying to get us to leave and he sort of blurted it out. I don't think he meant to. He was just...well, he was worried about you both." He sighed.

"It's ok." She smiled softly. She took hold of his hand. "I'm glad you didn't leave." She said quietly.

"I'm not going anywhere." He assured her. "Hey...hey, come on..." He said when he saw tears starting to run down her face. "Rory's going to get through this ok? She's tough. Just like her mother."

"I...I only took my eyes off the road for a moment." She sniffed.

"What happened?" He asked softly.

"Rory was so excited about Harvard. She had taken part in one of the lectures going on there and she was amazing. Really blown everyone away. We were chatting about it and laughing and...I must have missed the light turning red and suddenly a car came from right. I heard Rory scream and then everything went black.."

"It wasn't your fault." Luke said softly.

"I should have paid attention. I should have..." Lorelai cried.

"It was a mistake. An accident. It wasn't your fault, Lorelai. Rory's going to be fine ok? I know she will be. And I'll be here by your side the whole time, ok?" He said.

"She's my baby..." Lorelai sobbed.

"I know." He said softly, pulling her gently into a hug. "It's all going to be ok. I promise."

"I love you." She said.

"Oh Lorelai, you have no idea." He said. "When I thought...when I heard about the accident and that you were in surgery, I thought..." He said his voice cracking slightly.

"Luke..." She said softly. "I'm ok."

"Promise me, you'll rest. You'll do what the doctor says." Luke said. "I'll sit with Rory until you're well enough. I promise. She will never be alone."

"Ok." She said. "I promise."

Luke let out a breath. "Thank you." He said leaning forward to kiss her. "Thank you."

"You know...we may have our petty arguments but...we've always had each other's backs." Olivia said quietly as she sat next to Jess, next to Rory's bed.

"I know." Jess said.

"You know once...when we were at Stars Hollow High...I was caught passing notes in class and I was put in detention. I knew mom would be so disappointed so when Rory found out, before I knew it, she had taken the whole blame for it and she was put in detention herself." Olivia said. "When I found out what she had done, I deliberately got into trouble so I could join her. It was the first and last time we'd been in detention." She smiled slightly.

"You're crazy." Jess chuckled slightly.

"Mom still doesn't know to this day." Olivia laughed slightly. She glanced at her sister and sighed. "She always has my back, no matter what. I...I don't deserve her." She said quietly.

Jess glanced at her. "Hey, don't talk like that. You're an amazing sister to her as well. She's told me that." He said softly, putting her arm round her.

"She has?" Olivia asked, sniffing slightly.

"Yeah. She loves you, Liv." Jess said.

"She's everything to me." Olivia admitted. "I just...what if she does have memory loss? Or brain damage? What if she forgets all about me and mom? About everything about our life?"

"She won't." He said.

"How do you know?"

"Because it's Rory. How could she forget you and your mom? It would be impossible." He said.

Olivia smiled tremulously at him. "I'm sorry. I..I know it must be killing you as well. Seeing her like this..."

"Hey, she's your sister." Jess said softly.

"And she's your girlfriend. You don't have to be strong infront of me, you know. It's really sweet but...you don't have to be." She said softly. She sighed and leant her head on his shoulder. "She's been the happiest she's ever been lately and that's because of you."

"She told you that?" He asked.

"She didn't need to. It was obvious." Olivia said.

Jess sighed. "I'm really glad you weren't in that car as well." He said. He saw Olivia give him a confused look. "Not like that. I just...I think I'd be going crazy right now if you had both been lying here. You two...you mean a lot to me. I know I'm rubbish at this emotional crap but I...I love you guys." He admitted.

Olivia smiled softly. "We love you too." She said. "Well, Rory probably does in a different way if you get what I mean." She smirked slightly.

Jess chuckled a little. "That's good with me."

Suddenly the door opened and a familiar voice spoke. "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Ben!" Olivia said getting up. "What are you doing here?"

"Luke called my dad. Told him what had happened. I wanted to be here. For you." He said. "How are you doing?" He asked before kicking himself. "Sorry, silly question."

"No, it's ok." She smiled tremulously. "I'm ok." She said. "Well...I'm holding up." She admitted. "You didn't need to come."

"No place I'd rather be. If you want me here, I'm here." Ben said.

Olivia blinked back tears and rushed towards him, hugging him. "Thank you." She said. "I..uh..I was just going to go see my mom." She said. She glanced over at Jess. "Will you be ok?" She asked.

"You go see your mom." He assured her. "I'll be fine."

"I'll come back later ok?"

Jess nodded. "Tell your mom...well, tell her I'm glad she's going to be ok."

"I will." She smiled softly. "And hey Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Rory's going to be fine." She smiled.

"I hope so." He gave her a small smile, before watching her leave. "Hey Ben?" He said.

"Yeah?"

"Look after her, yeah? She may say she's ok but...well, this...Rory being like this...it's hit her hard." Jess said quietly.

Ben nodded. "I give you my word." He said.

Jess nodded. "Thanks."

"Mom?" Olivia said quietly as she peeked her head round her mom's room.

"Liv..." Lorelai smiled softly.

"Mom!" Olivia exclaimed rushing over and hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" She said suddenly pulling away.

"It's worth it." Lorelai said, holding her close.

"I'll leave you to it." Luke smiled softly. "Let's get some food." He told Ben who was standing at the doorway.

Ben nodded. "I'm glad you're ok." He told Lorelai.

"Thanks Ben." She said softly. She watched Luke head for the door. "Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?" He said turning round.

"Thanks...for being here." She said.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else." He said.

"I know you hate hospitals." Lorelai said. "I just...It means a lot that you're here."

"I'm not going anywhere." Luke smiled softly before leaving the room.

"Have...have you seen her?" Lorelai asked Olivia.

Olivia blinked back tears. "Yeah...She..uh..she just looks like she's sleeping."

"Well...she is. It's about time she sleeps. All the school work she's been doing lately. She needs a break from that." Lorelai forced a smile.

"Yeah..." Olivia said quietly.

"Hey, come here." Lorelai said softly. "Come sit with me. Rory's going to be fine."

Olivia felt some tears run down her face. "I know everyone's been saying that to make us feel better. Hell I've been telling Jess that. But...we both know that might not be the case..." She said sniffing.

Lorelai felt tears run down her face as well. "You're right." She said tremulously. "But what we can do is stay positive. Rory will always be Rory to us whatever happens right?"

"Right.." Olivia nodded.

"We'll get through this together, ok?" Lorelai assured her daughter.

"I'm so glad you're ok, mom. I...I was so scared." She admitted.

"I'm sorry I scared you." Lorelai sniffed. "But I promise you, I'm going to be fine."

"You know, Luke's been great. Like really great." Olivia said softly. "I...I was freaking out slightly and he assured me that whatever happened, I wouldn't be alone. That he would be there for me no matter what."

"He said that?" She said softly.

"Yeah...and then I sort of had a panic attack when we were waiting for news on you and Rory..." She admitted.

"You what?" Lorelai said surprised.

"I'm fine. Luke...he..uh..he sorted it. He was so calm, mom. He helped me." She said.

Lorelai smiled softly. "Wow..."

"He's a good one, mom. Don't...don't screw this up." Olivia said, but smirked slightly to show she was teasing her.

Lorelai laughed for the first time since she woke up. "I can assure you I have no plans in doing that."

"Good." Olivia smiled, snuggling up to her. "Hey mom?"

"Yeah?"

"She's going to be fine." She said firmly. "Who else is going to be the voice of reason in our family?"

Lorelai smiled slightly. "No one comes to mind." She said softly.

"I love you, mom."

"Oh kid, you have no idea." Lorelai said holding her close, blinking back tears as they just lay there for ages just taking support in each other's company.

So I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think by reviewing! :) Thanks again for your continued support! :)